With the right lens I believe it gets you a lot closer than before however, I would have to say no it does not. There is a lot more noise with the D800/D800e than medium format no matter what lens you use. I think the comparison theory is simply someone's wet dream to save $20-40 grand. Just like in the era of film there is no substitute for Medium format period.

While I appreciate everyone's right to their opinion I think the review is, quite frankly, a bit weak. I hope you will take the opportunity to do some side-by-side photo comparisons that are minimally processed to reflect the actual images the cameras are capturing.

If you cannot do the comparisons please send me the Mamiya and assorted lenses and I will let you, and everyone else that reads NR, know how they compare. ;)

You may also wish to review the Hasselblad/D800 comparison which was linked on NR and which serves as a decent, although not empirical, review.